Colored smoke bomb



April 4, 1950 J. c. DRISKELL COLORED SMOKE BOMB Filed June 14, 1945 L s S Arrow/vs Patented Apr. 4, 1950 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 34], 1928; 370 0. G. 757) 3 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government, for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

Previous attempts to produce colored smoke included a canister of colored smoke mixture placed into the fin-well of an ordinary bomb. Another attempt used the colored smoke mixture in pelleted form. None proved adequate and dependable for military use whose requirements for signalling purposes are very exacting.

This invention relates to munitions for producing smokes, particularly a bomb for colored smokes.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a bomb, which will possess the usual characteristics as regards weight, ballistics and release.

Another object of this invention is to produce a bomb which will emit a large trail of colored smoke through its trajectory.

A further object of this invention is to produce an extremely visible smoke trail so that it can serve for air to air, ground to air, or air to ground signalling.

Other and more specific objects of this invention will become readily apparent to persons skilled in the art from the consideration of the following description when taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows the bomb in elevation with parts in section.

Fig. 2 is the grenade train containing several units.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the top portion of the smoke grenade.

Fig. 4 is flat ring separator provided with spring fingers for securing the smoke grenade units in the assembled position shown in Figures 1 and 2, and

Fig. 5 shows a plan view of the separator illustrated in Figure 4.

Referring to Fig. l, a bomb is shown as provided with conventional casing having fins and adapted to be dropped from aircraft.

One of the embodiments of my invention shows a bomb body similar to a standard practice bomb. It ordinarily consists of a body filling, igniter, fin assembly, and fuse with the usual painting and markings as other chemical-filled munitions. The whole assembly weighs about 100 lbs.

There are no special filling holes, but the bomb is charged through the well in the fin-end and is closed after filling by screwing an outer closing cap 8 into the casing or well tube 5, which runs 2 substantially the whole length of the bomb, The cap 3 is used during the transportation only and is replaced by a fuze 9 just before the bomb is loaded into the plane. These fuzes are usually shipped separately from the bomb and are assembled just before use.

The space between the tube 5 and the conventional bomb casing is filled with sand shown at E3. Water is added to this sand to get the final weight desired.

To operate the firing mechanism the pin 12 is withdrawn by pulling the ring In in the usual manner.

The colored smoke unit consists of several parts, namely: the train tube 5, which fits into the tail Well of the bomb and the grenade train, consisting of a plurality of separate smoke charges or units 6 placed in tandem as shown in Fig. 2. The optimum number of units in one bomb is eight.

A portion of the single unit grenade 6 is shown in detai1 partially in section in Fig. 3. It comprises a shell l4 filled with the smoke producing mixture It. The central hole l5 extends through the whole unit and is coated with a starter slurry H, which is the usual mixture of black powder and a binder, before assembling the individual smoke units into a composite train. The units are held centrally in the tube 5 by centering separators l made of spring steel. These separators i may be formed in the shape of a flat ring having a central open portion 18, unit-engaging spring fingers l9 and spring fingers 2|] engaging both the unit and the train tube 5. The open portion I8 is provided for the purpose of permitting the starter slurry l1, coated on the inner surface of the smoke units, to ignite the slurry on the inner portion of the smoke units after the slurry on the smoke unit nearest the fuze 9 has been initially ignited. The spring fingers l9 and 20 of the separators I, provide means whereby the units 5 are resiliently secured together in alinement with each other in the central portion of the container 5, substantially as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The whole is waterproofed by closing plug 8 until ready for dropping.

The fuse shown at 9 is attached just prior to loading the bomb on a plane.

In operation, the bomb is released from the plane in an identical manner as an ordinary bomb. The fuse 9 ignites the quickmatoh H, which in turn ignites the starting slurry IT on the lower unit 6. This in turn ignites the colored smoke filling it of one unit 6 and the starting slurries and smoke fillings in the remaining units. This produces the full volume of smoke within two seconds after the bomb is released. The bomb then emits a long trail of colored smoke through its trajectory.

This smoke is extremely visible and is therefore useful for air to air, ground to air, or air to ground signalling or marking.

It should be understood that the instant invention is not limited to the details of the above disclosure but is limited only by the scope of the claims appended thereto.

I claim:

1. A bomb for producing smoke including an elongated metal shell containing a charge of sand to increase the weight of said bomb, an elongated tubular container centrally mounted in the sand in the said shell substantially in alinement with the longitudinal axis of said shell, a plurality of tubular smoke charge units mounted in said container substantially in alinement with each other and substantially in alinement with said axis of said shell, means for initially igniting one of said smoke charge units and means on each of said units for igniting adiacent units after one of said units has been ignited, each of said units being clampingly held. in ali nment with and spaced apart from adjacent units by a flat ring separator having a plurality of obliquelv and outwardly extending fingers.

2. A bomb for producing smoke, including an elongated metal shell containing a charge of sand to increase the weight of said bomb, an elon ated tubular container centrally mounted in the sand in said shell substantially in salinement with the longitudinal axis of said shell. a plurality of tubular smoke charge units mounted in said container substantially in alinement with each other and substantially in alinment with said axis of said shell, means for initially igniting one of said smoke charge units and starter slurry means for igniting the remainder of said smoke charge units, each of said units being clampingly held in alignment with and spaced apart from adjacent units by a flat ring separa- 5 tor having a plurality of obliquely and outwardly extending fingers.

3. A colored smoke bomb comprising a bomb metal shell containing a charge of sand, an elongated container mounted in the charge of sand in said shell, a plurality of smoke producing unit centrally carried in said container in alignment with each other, each of the said units being provided with a circular spring finger means whereby said units are resiliently secured together and resiliently spaced apart from each other and from said container.

JOHN C. DRISKELL.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 708,411 Semple Sept. 2, 1902 999,470 Semple Aug. 1, 1911 1,765,017 Marie June 17, 1930 1,897,948 Young Feb. 14, 1933 2,035,185 Nichols Mar. 24, 1936 2,044,345 Barab June 16, 1936 2,094,562 Lowy Sept. 28, 1937 2,361,841 Healy Oct. 31, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 2,976 Great Britain 1871 250,271 Great Britain Oct. 21, 1926 275,822 Great Britain 1927 835,183 France Sept. 19, 1938 219,177 Switzerland May 1, 1942 

